Three chimes, perfectly synchronized with the crotales and all four pianos at the end of Igor Stravinsky's “Les Noces”, sounded like a continuation of the pulse of musical time that vanishes into silence and continues beyond the boundaries of the audible and visible. These were the last sounds under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski in Bucharest, where he was responsible for the entire program for the third time as artistic director of the George Enescu Festival. Together with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, he has presented two concerts, the dramaturgies of which have set important signs of his work here and for the memory of the exemplary bearer of the festival's name.

The fact that the most important cultural event in Romania could even take place in this corona-plagued year was a tremendous achievement.

Jurowski himself emphasized that, unlike, for example, during the Second World War, when artists were able to act and take a position despite political repression, they had been deprived of almost all means of expression for more than a year and a half.

As a sign of solidarity, he saw the aim of this 25th anniversary edition of the Romanian Biennale to bundle artists and works from Europe and Great Britain as representatives of the “pan-European cultural area” in the program.

Programmatic records

At the same time, the festival was intended to honor both the 140th birthday of George Enescu and the 50th anniversary of the death of his contemporary Igor Stravinsky. The concept of course also accommodated the pandemic-related necessity this time to limit oneself to travelers from Europe, unlike, for example, in the previous edition of 2019, which was not only the richest in the history of this festival in terms of content, but also the most extensive internationally is.

Nevertheless: Organizational and programmatic records that often border on miracles are also set by the current festival.

With a total duration of four weeks, nearly four thousand artists performing music from all eras and genres, this season was the longest in the history of the festival.

Numerous premieres took place, most of them in the series for music of the 21st century, coupled with an international composers forum under the direction of Dan Dediu.

Commissioned compositions have been created, for example the orchestral work "The Neighbors of Chaos" by Mihnea Brumariu, which will be heard in the concert hall of the Romanian Radio, or the concert for violin, live electronics and orchestra by Fred Popovici, which Patricia Kopatchinskaja celebrated gorgeously .

In colored harmonies

There will certainly be something new to discover, including among the forty or so works by George Enescu that have been planned for this year, including numerous seldom or never before performed. The meticulous work of specialists opened the way there. The symphonic poem "Isis", played by the London Symphony Orchestra together with the enchantingly clear female voices of the Academic Choir of the Romanian Radio, sounded under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle in airy, colorful, impressionistic harmonies. The work, sketched in 1923, was not completed until 1996 by Pascal Bentoiu. In George Enescu's versatile work, it reflects a very different stylistic direction than, for example, the “Caprice Roumain” for violin and orchestra, a kind of memorial for the specific art of the Lăutari,the highly virtuoso fiddler of Romania, who learn to play the violin from an early age as well as their mother tongue and express all emotions freely and captivatingly in music. This score, completed by the composer Cornel Țăranu at the suggestion of the violinist Sherban Lupu, was performed by Dmitri Sitkowetski with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko. From the dreamy, free, ornate melodies of the slow movements to the fiery, contagious rhythms of the dances, the performers have hit the typical idiom admirably.was performed by Dmitri Sitkowetski with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko. From the dreamy, free, ornate melodies of the slow movements to the fiery, contagious rhythms of the dances, the performers have hit the typical idiom admirably.was performed by Dmitri Sitkowetski with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko. From the dreamy, free, ornate melodies of the slow movements to the fiery, contagious rhythms of the dances, the performers have hit the typical idiom admirably.